Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1887-09-09
MANCHESTER M u, ]
AWKWARD, AND TAsTELESS DRESS
J. OF ENGLISH WoRKlNGWoMEN. -

Tho Gait Of Many q Bslle Is Simply
Awful-HuYe, shapeless Hats for Head
Eear-A Mystery of Human Stupidity
A Remedy. .a
Looking at the Manchester population as
they may be seen in the garden of the exhibit
ton, that is to say dispurting themselves in
their Sunday best" the critic, as have al
ways remarked, will soon be overwhelmed
by the fatal prey alence Of dowdyism. The
women are, for tie most part, ungainly and
uncouth. Yet they have not the excuse of
poverty, for their dresses are sound, very
rarely threadbare or i'll loles. Some Of the
dresses are even oraped UP with some preten-
sion to elegance; but helasl for the result.
The walk OF the wearer is simply awful.
The idea that the human figure is capable Of
graceful deportm ant, that feelings can b. OK
pressed and harlnonies established by the
movements OF the limbs, the position of the
head and the pois, of the body does not seem
to have dawned on the young women who
compose the ma jerity of the crowd in search
of amusement, Irritation and perhaps hus-
bands. So clums was the gait of many a
northern belle tlat the happy thought &C.
CURED to mo Of nstituting what might be
called a water bucket prize. Let the friends
of aesthetic reform club together for tho pur-
pose of offering prizes in elementary schools
to the girls who show the greatest proficiency
IN walking considerable distances and over
rough ground wi Ii buckets filed with water
on their hca..s. believe that great deal of
the elegance, ant above all of tho dignity
and stateliness,~ of Spanish and oriental
r.
memorial they ha We been i'll the habit Of car
rying pitchers o. water balanced on their
heads.
HUGE, 6aAPELESS HATS.
In the MEANWHILE, in Manchester, as in
London, the worl girls only carry Oh their
heads huge, shal,eless hats, with gigantic
feathers of gaudy colors that ramblc in all
errntic manner ound the crown. Why
stunted, little factory girl, with clothes that
do not fit her and that Of the most prosaic
cut, should imag! ne that Il cheap and clumsy
imitation of broad Gainsborough or Van
Dyke with flowing plume can possibly en-
nance her appearance, is one of those mystic
ries of human stupidity which is most diff,
cult to explain. A French girl, who has not
received half the education our school boards
provide, and belongs to all equally humble
class of society, would, before attempting
to dress herself, carefully study, not the
fashion, but her own personal peculiari-
ties, her individual physical good and bad
points. Then she would seek to adopt, from
among the current fashions, only those de-
tails suitable to her personal characteristics.
If she were small ill shaped, and stunted in
her growth, she :,ould wear q modest dress,
and try and gain in piquancy, in sprightli-
ness, in vivacity what she lacked in dignity
and in classic regularity Of form and feature.
The French girl would be very careful not to
draw attention t" the smallness Of her figure
by tho contrast c't a large hat only suited to
a tall and CONF anding parsonage. If her
skirt aud bodice we're plain and unpretend-
ing, she would wear bonnet or a hat equally
simple.
The English GIRL however, has no knowl-
ense Of the appropriateness of things. She
will go to the th~,tre and imagine that tue
l'ig feather worn 80 gracefully by Miss Flor
cnce ST. john in he part Of Nell Ciwynne, at
the court Of CHA less II, will suit her equally
! we'll, AS she ttrn1s her cotton print skirts
through the nlul of Il back court or alley in
Il Manchester sunurb or a London slum.-
Foreign Letter.